THE KOSTROMA SAGA by Michel Poulin - HTML preview

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CHAPITRE 58 – PEACE AT LAST

 

07:41 (Providence Time)

Tuesday, August 08, 2322

Bridge of the Drazt interstellar transport ship KHAL DROGA Arriving in high orbit over the planet of Providence (Alpha Centauri Bd) Alpha Centauri B System (4.36 light-years from Earth)

‘’The spectral analysis of the star confirms that we are in the Alpha Centauri B System, Shipmaster.’’

Dozna Wiss, sitting in the shipmaster’s chair of her new ship, felt relief on hearing her navigator’s announcement. This was only the third interstellar jump that her recently built and commissioned transport ship KHAL DROGA had made, the two previous ones having been used to certify the ship as good for service. The fact that her ship was now inside the system of an orange star, with a yellow star as a visible close companion, was enough by itself to prove to her that she was not anymore in her home system, in which the star was a solitary red dwarf.

‘’Sensors Master, what do you see inside this star system? How many planets are there?’’

‘’Our sensors register the presence of two planets and an asteroid belt, Shipmaster. The first planet from the star is very close to it, thus would be way too hot to be habitable. However, the second planet is well within the habitability zone of its star. It has two moons, one a fairly massive body turning in a regular orbit around its parent planet, the other an irregular-shaped body circling in a highly eccentric orbit. The irregular moon may be a large asteroid which was captured by the second planet a long time ago, judging from its elliptical orbit.’’

‘’What about the second planet?’’

‘’It is emitting plenty of artificial electronic noises, Shipmaster.’’

‘’Then, let’s get to it! Pilot, head for the second planet. Once there, we will insert ourselves in a high equatorial orbit and wait to be hailed. Signals Master, start broadcasting in a continuous loop our message of peace in English: let’s not scare the

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Humans in and around the second planet and make them think that we came to attack them.’’

‘’Yes, Shipmaster!’’

As her signals officer punched a button and started playing on the radio the message meant to identify the KHAL DROGA as a diplomatic ship, Dozna couldn’t help admire the big orange ball of Alpha Centauri B. It was much larger and luminous than the red dwarf star that illuminated Kadosh, which the Humans called Ross 128. The other two stars in this triple system, a nearby yellow star and a much more distant red dwarf star, added to the novel aspect of this system for her and her crew. The second planet, which was supposed to be the one named ‘Providence’ by the Humans, was plainly visible on the bridge’s viewing screens and was a ball half covered with the blue color characteristic of oceans. Its sight made Dozna sigh with envy: Kadosh, being the only habitable planet in her home system, had been severely overpopulated for centuries already and the Drazt race badly needed a new planet to resettle the excess population living on Kadosh. Up to now, only one system with a habitable planet had been explored to date by the Drazt: LHS 288. The rate of exploration missions away from Ross 128 was unfortunately slow, being severely limited by the scarceness of the anti-matter pills needed to fuel the Drazt interstellar drive system. Unfortunately, the production of those anti-matter pills was already at its maximum capacity, despite swallowing a huge amount of energy from the entire planetary energy sector. Thus, every interstellar jump literally counted, but Dozna’s trip to Alpha Centauri still had rated as a high priority one. Arriving at a lasting peace with the Humans was essential for the Drazt race, if it wanted to avoid another armed confrontation with the Humans, a confrontation that it was next to assured to lose. Her present mission was thus a matter of sheer long-term survival for her race.

Some fifteen minutes later, the signals officer twisted his head to look at Dozna.

‘’Shipmaster, we are now receiving a video response from the second planet to our broadcasted message. It is on Channel Two.’’

‘’Thank you!’’ said Dozna while punching a button to connect her chair’s display screen to the said channel. She was then able to see the torso and head of a Human male sitting at some sort of work station. The translation program of her ship’s computer made a written translation in Drazt language appear at the bottom of the screen as the Human spoke in English.

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‘’KHAL DROGA, this is the Providence space traffic control center. Your identification message has been received. You may proceed to the Providence High orbital terminal station, flying in a low equatorial orbit around the second planet of this system. You can follow the station’s radio beacon signal on the frequency 881.5 megahertz. Once in sight of our orbital station, you will be free to approach it and dock at its Number Two Docking Station, which will have its indicator lights flashing green.’’

‘’This is the KHAL DROGA: your message is understood. We will call back once on approach, out!’’

Once that call was concluded, Dozna switched her screen to the intercom system of the ship and called the V.I.P. suite on the Passengers Deck, getting an answer on the second buzz.

‘’Prime Minister’s suite!’’

‘’This is Shipmaster Wiss. Tell the Prime Minister that we have safely arrived in the Alpha Centauri B System and that we have been invited to go dock at an orbital space station around the second planet, Providence. We should be there in nine chu.’’

‘’I will inform the Prime Minister of this right away, Shipmaster.’’ replied the aide before cutting the link. Dozna then sat back in her command chair, mentally reflecting about the seismic changes which had happened within the Drazt society and government during the last few rotations. With the death of the Supreme Conductor and the mass purging from the government of his various loyalists, sycophants and coat-hangers, the way had been cleared for a profound reform of the political system on Kadosh. Instead of naming another quasi-dictator with wide powers, the general population, led by the progressive elements of the Navy’s High Command, had voted to adopt a fully democratic model of government, with a Prime Minister elected via universal suffrage and governing with the help of a ministerial cabinet and of regional governors, also elected democratically. In turn, the new Prime Minister had at once shifted the government’s priorities to a new space exploration and resettlement program geared towards finding habitable planets and building settlements on them. Despite the limited availability of the anti-matter pills vital for interstellar jumps, some habitat and support modules were already in place on LHS 288c, the first planet officially designated as a resettlement world, while the concept of resettlement on new planets had become a subject of enthusiastic conversations among the Drazt population.

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After a couple of hours of flight, an orbital space station became visible in orbit around Providence. As her ship was approaching it, heading towards a docking station clearly marked by huge green flashing panels, Dozna was able to appreciate how big the station was. Vastly larger and longer than her own KHAL DROGA, the station looked like a three-kilometer-long vertical rod topped by a 400-meter-wide disc-like section and with pairs of well-separated spokes jutting out by 700 meters and attached at intervals down its central spine structure. Each spoke ended in a docking station able to welcome ships much bigger than the KAL DROGA, while more spokes set at ninety degrees from the docking spokes served as support and storage arms for hundreds of cargo modules, liquid bulk tanks and container pods. Numerous robotic arms and local free-flying tugboats moved those modules, tanks and pods around, attaching or detaching them from cargo ships docked at the orbital terminal. However, what truly attracted the attention of Dozna and of her whole bridge crew was the sight of a gigantic cargo ship docked to the station and busy transferring dozens of cargo pods to the cargo storage terminal.

‘’The KOSTROMA: it is here!’’ said to herself Dozna in a low voice. There was no mistaking that ship, with its massive round bow shield, four thermonuclear engine rocket exhaust plasma tubes and nozzles and its system of external carry of cargo pods and modules. It certainly had not been designed to fly at speed inside a dense planetary atmosphere and could be described as somewhat ugly in appearance, but Dozna knew too well that the KOSTROMA was king in the void of Space. As if saying its name had triggered some link with it, the signals officer spoke to her again.

‘’Shipmaster, the KOSTROMA is calling us.’’

‘’I will take the call.’’ replied Dozna. Two seconds later, the picture of Tina Forster appeared on her viewing screen. Tina smiled at once on seeing Dozna.

‘’Hello, Dozna! It is truly nice to see you again. I see that you are now commanding a new ship.’’

‘’That’s right, Tina. I am now the shipmaster of the KHAL DROGA, a newly-built interstellar transport ship.’’

‘’A transport ship, hey? It specializes in carrying cargo or passengers?’’

‘’It is actually a mixed transport, Tina. It can’t approach the carrying capacity of your mighty KOSTROMA, but it will be very useful for us to establish settlements on the new worlds of our civilization.’’

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‘’A worthy purpose indeed. So, I understand that you called in as a diplomatic ship? Then you came here to sign a peace treaty with us, right?’’

‘’Correct! Are there representatives of your government present here who would be mandated to discuss and sign such a treaty?’’

‘’Uh, I am afraid not. The highest official present in the system right now is Governor Rosa Goldberg, who is the top administrator of this new colony. However, I could escort your ship to the Solar System, where your envoy would then be able to speak directly with Chairperson Robeson… What? You suddenly look embarrassed. Did I say something wrong?’’

‘’No, Tina, you didn’t say anything wrong. It pains me to say this, but you would eventually learn about it, so I will be frank with you. Our new interstellar drive necessitates anti-matter pills to work, with one pill needed per separate jump. However, the cost and energy demand to produce each such pill are astronomical and we can’t produce more than a handful of them at a time. Right now, my new ship has only two such pills aboard: one for our return trip and the other as a backup in case of a failed jump. Jumping to your Solar System would reduce my safety margin to zero.’’ Tina was left speechless for a second by Dozna’s confession.

‘’Uh, I see! In that case, let me send one of my star shuttles to the Solar System, so that it could inform my government of your arrival here. It would also be able then to bring here our top officials. Would your ambassador mind to conduct his negotiations aboard my KOSTROMA? I would be delighted to be able to host such a historical event.’’

‘’I will certainly pass your offer to him, Tina. To be frank, I have been dying for a while to be able to visit your ship.’’

‘’And I was dreaming for a long time to be able to greet you aboard the KOSTROMA, Dozna. Uh, that makes me think about a small but crucial detail: what do Drazt eat? Will our food be edible to you?’’

‘’We are what you call vegetarians. We eat vegetables, fruits, grains and nuts. We also consume dairy products from time to time, like milk, cream and eggs. As for the compatibility of your own agricultural produces with our digestive systems, you don’t need to worry: we have been studying for many of your decades your open electronic literature and documentaries concerning your various food sources and what you call ‘culinary art’. From the chemical and biological descriptions given in those intercepted documentaries, our biologists and doctors have concluded that your vegetables and

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fruits should be edible for us. The only thing that we don’t know about them is the taste and flavors of your various food items.’’

Those last words brought a wide grin on Tina’s face.

‘’Hey, that would be a great excuse for me to invite you and your people to a food sampling buffet on my ship. I would love to see that! Your people would of course be welcome as well to tour my KOSTROMA. Did I already tell you before how proud I am of my ship?’’

‘’Yes, you did, Tina!’’ replied Dozna, an amused smile appearing on her lips.

‘’Then, once you are docked at the Providence High terminal, you and your people will be most welcome to visit my ship at their leisure during their stay on the station.’’

‘’Uh, you really would let us Drazts come aboard your ship at leisure, without some armed escort?’’

‘’Yes, I would! Don’t forget that my ship is primarily a cargo ship and not a warship. Only a few specific sections of my ship would remain out of bounds for you, like our weapons systems and ammunition magazines. On the other hand, we have our forest habitats, giant aquariums, commercial promenade, restaurants and hydroponic gardens, all of which could prove interesting to your people. And I mean all of your people. They could even buy souvenirs in the shops of my commercial promenade if they wished to.’’

‘’Stop! You are making my head spin with so many possibilities. Very well, I will take your gracious offer, Tina. Our diplomatic party will go visit your KOSTROMA once we have docked.’’

‘’Then, bring as well a few of your biologists and some of your cooks, so that they could study and taste our vegetarian food items and also bring samples of them for analysis back to your ship. I will be present to greet you at your docking station. See you then, Dozna!’’

Once the link was cut, Dozna exchanged a look with her second in command.

‘’I must say that it is hard not to like a person like that, once you get to know her.’’

‘’She certainly appeared most sincere in her enthusiasm at the idea of hosting us, Shipmaster.’’

‘’Personally, I believe that Captain Forster doesn’t have a single fiber of meanness or xenophobia in her. Dak, I would like you to select a group of no more than twenty of our crewmembers who would then accompany the Prime Minister and his

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diplomatic delegation during their visit aboard the KOSTROMA. I would like to see a couple of our biologists, our chief of hydroponics, our chief cook, our chief healer and a few of our engineers in that group. Then, inform the crew that each duty shift will be allowed to go visit the KOSTROMA once off duty. And please tell them all not to bring any weapons with them! The last thing that we need now is for some misunderstanding to end up in a shootout aboard the KOSTROMA.’’

‘’What if our people would like to buy things about this KOSTROMA, Shipmaster? What kind of money do these Humans use in space?’’

‘’I am not sure, but I am certain that both gold and silver coins would be accepted there. Human history is full of stories about their insatiable thirst for such precious metals. Tell our paymaster to issue silver and gold coins to our crewmembers wishing to visit the KOSTROMA, debiting their electronic credit balance in exchange.’’

‘’It will be done, Shipmaster!’’

11:10 (Universal Time)

Access lounge of Docking Station Number Two

Providence High orbital space terminal

Low equatorial orbit of Providence (Alpha Centauri Bd)

When Prime Minister Sho Dar, Dozna Wiss and sixteen other Drazts walked out of the protective airlock of Docking Station Number Two, they were greeted by Tina Forster, Eve Silisca and a tall man in his fifties wearing a short beard. The bearded man was actually the first to step forward to shake hands with the new visitors.

‘’Welcome to the Providence High Orbital Terminal, ladies and gentlemen. I am Sergei Ivanov, Chief Administrator of Providence High.’’

Waiting a couple of seconds to let time for his portable translation unit to translate Ivanov’s English words, the head of the Drazt delegation spoke while shaking the administrator’s hand.

‘’And I am Prime Minister Sho Dar. To my right is Shipmaster Dozna Wiss, in command of the KHAL DROGA. The people behind us have been selected to visit the KOSTROMA, following the generous invitation from Fleet Captain Forster.’’

‘’And they will be welcomed to visit as well my station afterwards, Mister Prime Minister. My staff and the personnel of this station have been told to treat all visiting

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Drazts as having diplomatic status during this visit of yours. Your people can thus go around it without any worries for their safety.’’

‘’That is very kind of you, Chief Administrator Ivanov. I must say that your orbital terminal is a very impressive installation.’’

Ivanov smiled with pride at that compliment and pointed Tina, standing next to him.

‘’I owe a lot to Fleet Captain Forster in that respect, Mister Prime Minister. Her ship carried the prefabricated elements of this station to this system, then helped assemble it in orbit.’’

‘’Really? And how many trips did it take to bring all the pieces of your station to Alpha Centauri B?’’

‘’Two trips by the KOSTROMA were sufficient, Mister Prime Minister.’’ replied Ivanov, making Sho Dar look at Tina Forster with incredulity.

‘’Two trips only? May I ask what is the cargo capacity of your ship, Fleet Captain Forster?’’

‘’You certainly may, Mister Prime Minister. My KOSTROMA has a maximum cargo load capacity of a bit over twenty million metric tons. But we could discuss this further once you will be inside my ship, when you will be able to see it firsthand. Know that a courier shuttle left for the Solar System some twenty minutes ago, to bring the news of your arrival here. I expect Chairperson Robeson, of the Spacers League High Council, to travel back here aboard that shuttle. She should thus arrive at this orbital station in a few hours at the most.’’

‘’That is good news indeed: I am anxious to discuss peace with her, so that we can put all the past unpleasantness behind us.’’

‘’I couldn’t agree more with you on that, Mister Prime Minister. Behind me are a number of passenger platforms which will carry you and your people to the docking station at which my KOSTROMA is docked. If you will sit in the first platform with me, Mister Prime Minister.’’

‘’With pleasure, Fleet Captain Forster.’’

With everybody jumping aboard the anti-gravity platforms, each of which had benches for up to twelve passengers, the convoy of vehicles was soon driving down a large tunnel running inside the docking station’s support arm. They then entered a big cargo elevator which started going down towards the level where the KOSTROMA was docked. The whole trip from docking station to docking station actually took a good

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twenty minutes, an impressive testament to the size of the orbital terminal. As the platforms started driving into the covered telescopic gangway linking the station to the KOSTROMA, Dozna was struck by the twin row of trees lining the sides of the large hallway they were following.

‘’You have trees even here? Division Master Ren told me about your fantastic forest habitats, but I did not expect these in a simple access tunnel.’’

‘’Aaah, but you will find green plants, trees and other kinds of vegetation all over my ship, Dozna.’’ replied Tina, smiling. ‘’This ship is much more than just an armed cargo ship for me and my crew: it also is our home in Space. I thus did my best to turn it into a flying village in Space, a village in which we can live, shop, raise our children and educate them and, in the case of some of us, conduct business and trade. Actually, over half of the occupants of the KOSTROMA are not crewmembers per say. Instead, they are either spouses or children of crewmembers, or work in the various commercial concessions you will find aboard. In fact, the first thing you will see inside my ship proper will be the Main Promenade, on Level Nine. There, you will see a variety of shops, restaurants, bars, clubs and entertainment facilities, including a children’s playground.’’

Those last words made Dozna give a skeptical look at Tina.

‘’Don’t tell me that you had children aboard your ship when you came in to attack Kadosh.’’

‘’On that occasion, no! Before going to your system with four of our warships, I had dropped off the families of my crewmembers on New Haven, where we have our fixed homes and go periodically on vacation, in order to experience open air nature again. However, when I first went to Kadosh on a diplomatic mission, our families were aboard, as I was not expecting to be attacked then.’’

Dozna couldn’t help lower her head in shame then.

‘’And I was not proud of our acts then, Tina.’’

‘’Please forget about that, Dozna.’’ said Tina softly while patting her shoulder. ‘’Those responsible for that are now dead. Let’s concentrate now on ensuring peace between our two people.’’

‘’You do have a way with words, Fleet Captain Forster.’’ said Prime Minister Sho Dar while glancing at her. ‘’Your leaders chose the right person to come visit us at first. A more belligerent or xenophobic ship captain than you would have triggered a large-scale war at once.’’

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‘’Oh, we have no shortages of such ship captains or politicians, especially on Earth itself, Mister Prime Minister. But let’s change the subject to a more agreeable one: we are now entering my ship’s Main Promenade. If you don’t mind, we will now disembark and continue on foot, in order for you to better enjoy your visit. I will escort you, Shipmaster Wiss and your two personal aides around, while Miss Silisca, my own personal aide, will guide your followers from the KHAL DROGA around at a more leisurely pace.’’

With the convoy of anti-gravity platforms stopping and parking along one side of the ten-meter-wide circular boulevard forming the Main Promenade, their occupants stepped out on the pavement and split in two groups, one small one led by Tina and the larger one led by Eve. The first commerce they passed by attracted more than one incredulous look from the visiting Drazt.

‘’You have a sex club aboard your ship?’’ asked a bemused Dozna, attracting a grin from Tina.

‘’Of course! When your cruiser returns to Drakan City after a space patrol, I can bet that your unmarried crewmembers probably go first to visit the prostitutes in the city, if of course you have prostitutes on Kadosh.’’

‘’Of course we have prostitutes on Kadosh, and they are not all female. Did you think that we Drazts can’t have fun from time to time?’’

‘’I thought so! Maybe your people will want to go have a peep inside that club later on. But let’s get to more mundane things, like shops and restaurants. As you will see, there is a wide variety of restaurants along the Main Promenade, representing nearly all the various culinary traditions found on Earth. Some of them serve mostly or exclusively vegetarian menus, so your people will be able to sample a few of our food items during their tour. Later on, you will all be invited to go sample a variety of our vegetarian dishes at a special buffet which will be set for lunch in the ship’s business class dining room. By the way, that buffet will be free.’’

‘’And your restaurants and clubs, will they be free as well, Tina?’’

‘’Uh, no, since they are private commercial enterprises and must turn a profit to survive. I however can arrange for some funds to be distributed to your people, out of my hospitality budget.’’

‘’That is a truly nice offer, Tina, but my people have brought with them some silver and gold coins, so that they could spend a bit on your ship.’’

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‘’Silver and gold are definitely accepted aboard, Dozna. Talking of silver and gold, here is the ‘Gleaming Star’, a jewelry store. It sells in particular a type of gem from the tenth planetary body of my Solar System, on which we found an abundance of beautiful orange-brown diamonds of volcanic origin. Let’s go admire some of them.’’

Entering together the small jewelry store, Tina led her Drazts guests to a glass display case where a number of pieces of jewelry were on display, pointing to a splendid diamond brooch resting on a velvet cushion.

‘’That is an Eris diamond.’’

‘’It is beautiful!’’ said Dozna, while Prime Minister Sho Dar nodded his head in appreciation.

‘’It indeed is! I have personally never seen a gem on Kadosh with that kind of color.’’

That gave an idea to Tina, who glanced at Sho Dar.

‘’Are you married, Mister Prime Minister?’’

‘’I am, with three grown children.’’

‘’Then, could I offer you this brooch, so that you could give it to your wife on your return to Kadosh? Don’t worry about my bank account: cargo business has been quite good to me lately.’’

‘’Are you sure, Fleet Captain? I would hate to abuse your hospitality.’’

‘’Not at all! Would you prefer that brooch, or some other piece of similar value that would be in your wife’s taste?’’

Sho Dar did not answer immediately, as his eyes went around the display case to look at the various pieces of jewelry.

‘’This Eris diamond brooch is still the piece that I find the most attractive in this lot, Fleet Captain.’’

‘’Excellent! Mister Simonov: I am buying this Eris diamond brooch here. Could you charge it to my account and then gift wrap it?’’

‘’With pleasure, Captain!’’ replied the jeweler and gem cutter, delighted: that said brooch was listed for no less than 15,600 credits. Delicately taking the brooch from its cushion, he next went to wrap it as Tina looked at Dozna.

‘’And you, Dozna? Do you see something that you like here?’’

‘’Uh, thank you for your offer, Tina, but I am really not the type to wear jewelry, even when off duty. May I suggest another recipient for a gift from you, though?’’

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‘’Oh? And who would that be?’’

‘’Zar, the wife of Lem Dov, whom you met while visiting their apartment with me. The poor Zar went through some rough times in the past, most lately when she found herself and her little daughter aboard an orbital station plunged into darkness by your KOSTROMA. She recognized your ship as it flew past the station.’’

‘’Oh!’’ said Tina, looking contrite as she imagined that moment. ‘’That’s an excellent idea, Dozna. Since you may know her tastes better, I will let you choose the gift for her.’’

‘’With pleasure, Tina.’’

It took only a minute for Dozna to look around at the displays before pointing at a diamond pendant with gold chain.

‘’This one has a chain long enough to fit around the neck of a Drazt. It also has a nice gem.’’

‘’Then, let’s go for that pendant! Mister Simonov, could you add this pendant to my bill? I will need it to be wrapped separately from the brooch.’’

‘’Understood, Captain Forster.’’

Four minutes later, the small group walked out of the jewelry store, with Dozna pocketing the small box containing the diamond pendant for Zar Dov. Tina, satisfied with herself, rubbed her hands together while looking at her guests.

‘’Are you getting hungry, my friends? For us, lunch time is nearing.’’

‘’According to our system’s time, it would be more like supper time for us, but a meal would be welcomed soon, Fleet Captain.’’ replied Sho Dar.

‘’Then, let’s continue our tour of the Main Promenade until we arrive at a really good vegetarian restaurant situated on the inner ring of the Main Promenade: they have a really nice selection of salads and vegetarian dishes.’’

14:29 (Universal Time)

Temperate Rain Forest Habitat, Level 16

A.M.S. KOSTROMA

Sho Dar closed his eyes for a moment as he enjoyed the smell of nature around him while sitting on a wooden bench next to a pond set in the middle of a forest.

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‘’This place is so relaxing. The smell from those trees also adds a special quality to this décor. Your idea of planting forests inside your ship was truly fantastic, Fleet Captain Forster.’’

Tina, also sitting on a bench next to Dozna Wiss, smiled at the compliment.

‘’I must say that my idea was a bit of a selfish one too: I was dying for some real nature after long Space trips, so I decided to bring nature with me in Space. Mind you, my crew certainly liked my idea. Our giant aquariums were installed with the same goal in mind and are also well appreciated by my crew and their families.’’

‘’And your ship must be unique in that aspect across this galaxy, Tina.’’ added Dozna. Tina was about to reply to that when her wrist videophone buzzed, making her raise her wrist near her face and flip open its lid, to see the face of Shanandar, who was presently in command on the bridge.

‘’Yes, Shanandar?’’

‘’I am calling to tell you that the shuttle carrying Governor Robeson and her negotiating team is now on final approach to our craft airlock number four. By the way, Governor Sheraz and Doctor Koomak are also aboard, as per your request.’’

‘’Excellent! Me and my guests will now move to the Hangar Deck to greet Governor Robeson and Governor Sheraz. Thanks for warning me.’’ As Tina closed the lid of her videophone and got on her feet, Sho Dar asked her a question.

‘’May I ask who this Governor Sheraz is?’’

‘’You certainly may, Mister Prime Minister: he is the political leader of the Koorivars who survived the destruction of their original home planet, a long time ago. Their first new colony is on Earth, where we welcomed them after saving one of their refugee ships from its icy tomb on Eris, the tenth planetary body in our Solar System. However, the Koorivars are now busy building up a new home world for themselves in the Wolf 1061 System, on the planet ‘New Shouria’. As such, the Koorivars are members of the Spacers League and Governor Sheraz has a seat on its High Council, like I do.’’

‘’You have a seat on that council, Tina? How come?’’ asked a surprised Dozna.

‘’Because I am the corporate owner of a planetary body, ‘New Haven’, in the Wolf 1061 System. I represent New Haven on the Spacers League High Council.’’ Dozna exchanged a glance with Sho Dar but didn’t say more, instead following Tina down the paved trail leading back to the core section of the ship.

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Their group, including Sho Dar’s two personal aides, arrived at the Hangar Deck some four minutes later, in time to see a star shuttle cycle through one of the four craft airlocks of the ship. They then watched through a thick armored acrylic window as the shuttle moved into one of the hangars connected to the airlock, to finally land on its steel deck. With the hangar kept pressurized at all times, contrary to the airlock, Tina was able to lead her group inside it at once and took position near the shuttle’s aft access ramp, which was now coming down. The first to come out was Janet Robeson, closely followed by Governor Sheraz, Doctor Koomak and three high level functionaries of the High Council. Tina came to attention and saluted Robeson, as this was a most formal event.

‘’Welcome aboard, Madam Governor, Governor Sheraz! May I present you Prime Minister Sho Dar and Shipmaster Dozna Wiss, who carried him aboard her ship, the KHAL DROGA. Prime Minister Sho Dar, this is Governor Janet Robeson, Governor of the Jupiter system and Chairperson of the Spacers League. To her right is Governor Sheraz, leader of the Koorivar people.’’

There was a quick exchange of handshakes, following which Tina looked at both delegations.

‘’I propose that we move to my personal suite on Level 24, where we will be able to discuss in complete privacy.’’

‘’That is fine with me, Tina.’’ said Robeson, to which Sho Dar echoed his own approval. The combined group, led by Tina, then left the hangar and went back into the core section, where they took place in an elevator cabin. As the cabin rose speedily, both Janet Robeson and Sho Dar discreetly measured each other in silence. Once on Level 24, on which the suites of the senior officers of the ship were situated, Tina led the group to the main entrance of her suite and opened it by putting her right hand flat against the glass screen of the wall access panel. As they were entering the suite, a little toddler boy happily ran to Tina.

‘’Mommy!’’

Tina bent down and grabbed her son with both hands before raising him to the level of her head to kiss him on the forefront and left cheek.

‘’My sweet Misha, you are such a delight’’

‘’You have a cute son, Fleet Captain Forster.’’ said Sho Dar, sincere, as he examined the first Human child he had seen in person.

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‘’Thank you, Mister Prime Minister! Since he is still too young to go to school, he normally goes to the ship’s daycare center when both me and my husband are on duty. Today, my husband is off duty, so he is keeping an eye on our Misha. Here he is in fact. Mister Prime Minister, this is my husband, Michel Koniev. Michel, this is Prime Minister Sho Dar.’’

‘’I am honored to meet you, Mister Prime Minister.’’ said Michel while shaking hands with Sho Dar, who was quickly becoming accustomed to that Human gesture.

‘’And I to meet you, Mister Koniev.’’

Next, Tina gave little Misha to her husband, promising her son to be with him soon before looking at Sho Dar and Janet Robeson.

‘’If you may follow me to the upper floor of my suite: I have a private meeting room there where we will be able to discuss in peace.’’

That meeting room, apart from proving to be fairly large, with a conference table big enough to accommodate ten persons around it, also gave a fantastic view through wide panoramic windows of the temperate rain forest habitat situated below. Sho Dar, like Dozna Wiss, took a moment to admire the view outside before sitting in the chair offered by Tina, which was opposite that occupied by Janet Robeson. Tina then sat to the left of Robeson and smiled to the members of the Drazts delegation.

‘’Well, Mister Prime Minister, since you came here to hold talks with my government, then I believe that you should be the first to speak.’’

‘’Thank you, Fleet Captain.’’ replied Sho Dar before looking directly at Janet Robeson and speaking slowly, so that his translation unit could do its work. ‘’Madam Governor, many things have changed since your fleet attacked Kadosh, five of your months ago. With our Supreme Conductor dead, along with his main followers, me and other members of the Navy’s high command made a sweeping cleanup of the planet’s government apparatus in order to purge any remaining Bar Kosh loyalists from positions of power. After a short period of martial law, our citizens were able to vote for a new constitution and a new government, which I now lead. Know that we have adopted your system of federal government, with a prime minister, a ministerial cabinet and regional first ministers, all elected by universal suffrage. I thus speak in the name of the whole Drazt people, and not only for me or my personal beliefs or interests.’’

‘’I am pleased to hear that, Mister Prime Minister. We Humans also had to endure dictatorial rules many times during our tumultuous past before finally recognizing

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the fact that a democratic government is still our best choice, especially when it comes to avoiding wars. I am also pleased to tell you that, in view of your change of government, the Spacers League High Council and me have decided to soften noticeably the terms of our initial ultimatum as given to you prior to our strike on Kadosh. While the radius of the sphere allotted to you around Kadosh stays five light-years, the allotted cone of space radiating outwards from your system and going towards the Galactic North has been doubled to a total of sixty degrees, rather than the thirty degrees decreed in our original ultimatum. Thus, the total number of star systems located within your allotted cone of space and situated within forty light-years of Kadosh is now up to 29, with plenty more star systems beyond that distance. There should thus be plenty of star systems available to your race for the foreseeable future.’’ At that point, Tina cleared her throat to attract attention on her, then spoke to Robeson out loud.

‘’If Prime Minister Sho Dar would excuse me, I would need to pass some new information to Governor Robeson, Governor Sheraz and Doctor Koomak in private. This should take only a minute or so.’’

‘’Go ahead, Fleet Captain.’’ replied Sho Dar, a bit surprised and also suspicious. While Janet Robeson was as surprised as Sho Dar by this, she did follow Tina to an adjacent room, along with Sheraz and Koomak.

‘’So, what is this new information that you deem important enough to call for a pause in those talks, Tina?’’

‘’The fact that the Drazts’ new interstellar drive system has a flaw that severely limits their present ability to explore and colonize new worlds. When I proposed to Shipmaster Wiss to escort her ship to the Solar System, so that we could hold talks more easily, she confessed to me that their new drive necessitates the use of one anti-matter pill per interstellar jump and that, due to the huge cost in energy needed to produce each of those pills, they are limited in fact to only a handful of interstellar jumps per month for their whole fleet. At that rate, it will take them decades to properly colonize just one new world. We may be ready to allot to them more space, but they are actually incapable of profiting from our generosity.’’

‘’I see their problem in this, Tina.’’ said Doctor Koomak, the old Koorivar physicist who had invented the interstellar drive named after him and which equipped the KOSTROMA and all the Human interstellar ships and craft. ‘’The clue is for them to find a cheaper and more efficient way to produce the anti-matter which power their drive.

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This one pill per jump is definitely a rotten solution and I agree with you that it will stop the Drazts from fully profiting from the space volume allotted to them.’’

‘’Uh, I understand that this is definitely a problem for the Drazts, but what do you suggest as a solution, Tina?’’ said Janet Robeson.

‘’I see two possible solutions to this, Madam Governor, but either of them will necessitate for us to take risks, big risks.’’

Tina then spent a couple of minutes to present and explain her two possible solutions. At the end, Robeson exchanged looks with Sheraz and Koomak.

‘’This is indeed risky as hell for us. What do you think?’’

‘’That the risk needs to be taken, Janet.’’ replied Sheraz. ‘’Besides, both of the technologies involved here are Koorivar inventions, thus we would have technically the legal right to give them to others as we see fit. Some members of the High Council may scream murder about this, but I support Tina’s second solution. If we are to put confidence in the Drazts’ good faith and true wishes for peace, then we might as well give them our full confidence.’’

‘’As inventor of the Koomak Drive, I support Sheraz’ opinion on this.’’ added Koomak in a firm tone. Janet Robeson debated mentally their point for a moment, then nodded her head once.

‘’Then, let’s go for Tina’s second solution. We may end up being known in the future as the most generous bunch ever, or as the most naïve policy bunglers ever.’’

‘’Hey, be famous or infamous, but be somebody!’’ then said a smiling Tina.

When their group returned to the meeting room, they found Prime Minister Sho Dar standing in front of the panoramic windows, looking down at the forest habitat below. When he saw them return, Sho Dar hurried to sit back in his chair and looked at Janet Robeson, doing his best to hide his anxiety.

‘’So, what is it about this larger allocation to our space sector, Governor Robeson?’’

‘’Well, Fleet Captain Forster just informed me about the deficiencies of your new interstellar drive, which severely limits your capacity to explore and exploit the other star systems around Kadosh. Since it would be quite hypocritical to give you more of Space to operate into while knowing that you could not use it properly, I was thus faced with the choices of either washing my hands of your problem, or of helping you in your predicament. In turn, if we chose to help you in this, we could have either offered you to

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use our ships to carry around your construction equipment and settlers, under contract terms, or provide you with the proper means to use your volume of Space.’’ The Drazts collectively held their breath and tensed up then, waiting for Janet’s final decision.

‘’I finally decided that, if we are to place our confidence in your good will, then we might as well put our full trust in you, Mister Prime Minister. After this meeting is over, Doctor Koomak will download on data chips two complete copies of the schematics and operating principles of both our Koomak Drive and of the old Koorivar technology of instant transmutation of matter into anti-matter. He will then give you those data chips: one for you, Mister Prime Minister, and the other for your top physicist present here on your ship.’’

For a moment, Sho Dar could not reply to that, the sudden rush of blood to his head making him dizzy. On her part, Dozna Wiss, equally stunned, stared at Tina with a look that clearly amounted to a ‘thank you’. Sho Dar was finally able to speak after long seconds, his voice still marked by emotion.

‘’Governor Robeson, you just have earned the eternal gratitude of the Drazt people. I just can’t express properly my joy at hearing this.’’

‘’Well, if we have to live side-by-side in this part of the galaxy, then we might as well live as true friends, Mister Prime Minister. Now, to another original term of our ultimatum, concerning the entry of Drazts ships within Human space. I have decided to soften it as well. While we still ask that you refrain from sending warships within our space, you may now send individual transport ships to any of our star systems, and not only to Alpha Centauri B. This should greatly facilitate the communications between our two races and also help prevent any future misunderstanding between us.’’ Having just obtained a lot more than what he had expected to get, Sho Dar decided that it was his turn to show good faith.

‘’Madam Governor, I fully agree to your new terms. I thus believe that we are ready to study the exact wording of a peace accord to be signed by both of us.’’

‘’Then, let’s get to work on that, my friends.’’ replied Janet Robeson, feeling a heavy weight lift off her shoulders.

21:12 (Universal Time)

Western access point of the A.M.S. KOSTROMA

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Janet Robeson watched on until the anti-gravity platforms carrying Prime Minister Sho Dar and his delegation was out of sight, then turned to face Tina Forster and looked gently at her.

‘’Tina, you helped pull a miracle here…again. You may be still quite young, but you have more common sense, true empathy for others and sharper thinking than all the politicians I know. First, you and your ship were pivotal in the defeat of the Terran Federation and of the Zembelo Regime back in 2315. Then, you discovered that Koorivar ship frozen under ice on Eris and was instrumental in making friends out of them. Now, you just helped to put an end to an interstellar conflict which could have cost millions of lives. I frankly don’t know how the Spacers League could properly thank you for your services and for those provided by your ship.’’ Tina simply smiled with malice then before answering her.

‘’Easy, Madam Governor: simply give me a fair share of the cargo business to be done between the Solar System and our new colonies and I will be plenty happy.’’

‘’But, that’s not much of a gift, Tina: you ship is still nearly unique in its capacity to transport large prefabricated modules between star systems. Hell, take this orbital station, as a matter of fact: your KOSTROMA carried ALL of its prefabricated elements in only two return trips from the Solar System. No other ship in our fleet can compete with your KOSTROMA in that respect.’’

‘’Well, that’s not my fault if the other shipping line owners are sitting on their thumbs, Madam Governor. You should whip them into action.’’

‘’Maybe I will, Commodore Forster.’’

Tina took a second to grasp the meaning of Robeson’s words.

‘’Commodore? But I am still only a reserve navy officer and still consider myself simply as a commercial cargo ship captain.’’

‘’Then, consider yourself as a commercial cargo ship captain…and a navy reserve commodore.’’ replied Janet Robeson, smirking.